ART OF WEAVING

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 53, Issue 32417, 12 April 1944, Page 3

ART OF WEAVING

JOB TALK TO ROTARY ADDRESS ON CARPETS NOW BEING MADE IN N.Z. A most interesting and instructive “job talk” was given at the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Paeroa by Mr A. W. Baker of the Rotary Club of Auckland, his subject being “carpets.” “First of all, a short sketch of the history of the fabric and the story of it's introduction into England may be of interest,” said Mr Baker in introducing his subject. “A fragment of carpet woven from linen and coloured wools is the oldest fabric in existence. More than 3400 years ago, or about 1480 B.C. it was woven in Egypt and to-day is the •priceless possession of the museum in Cairo,” continued the speaker. “ The origin of the weaver’s loom, like that of the potter’s wheel, dates back to prehistoric times. A loom with its workers is shown in an ancient 'Egyption fresco, the date of which is reckoned by antiquarians to •be about 3000 years before the Christian era. On the grottoes of Benihassan, both spinners and weavers are shown- working on plain and check patterns on both perpendicular and horizontal looms. Mention is frequently found in ancient records of history, of rich hangings and tapestries, usually the booty of some conqueror, but it is difficult to tell of the fabric used as a carpet to-day is included in these lists.

, Original Use of Carpets “The ancient equivalent of the modern carpet was known to the Babylonians, who were skilful weavers, and the manufacture was carried on at an early date among the Assyrians and Persians, in China and India, and also among the Arabs. “The original purpose of the carpet in the East was probably in the beginning as it is there now. It was used to give colour to the temple, as a hanging for tents, as a trapping for the saddle, a sitting place for a guest or a covering on the ground on which to sleep or pray, and its manufacture in any district implied a certain degree of civilisation and 1 luxury. “The small town of Kidderminster

in England has been connected with

weaving from the earliest times, and / -cloth weaving was done as far back as ■■ 1'235, but it was not until 170'1 that the carpet weavers in the villages of Wilton and Axminster received a charter, although the manufacture of carpets had been carried on at these places, both of which have given their names to distinct fabrics now made in many places and countries. ; “Carpet manufacture is no longer carried on at Axminster, and like other places such as Fulham, Exeter and Frome, has ceased to have any connection with carpet making. x “About the year 1740 the Earl of Pembroke brought weavers from France and introduced it to Wilton the making of loop pile or (Brussels carpeting. This was followed in due course by the development of cut pile fabric, which took its name from that place, and there are still a few weavers operating there, but only in a very small way. Manufacture In Scotland \ “Carpets are also made in several places in Scotland —in 'Glasgow, where the famous Templeton works are situated, at Ayr and Kilmarnock. As a matter of fact one of the most up-to- | date factories in the world is at Kilmarnock. On the banks of the river, j this factory practically built of glass

is about seven stories high and covers many acres of ground, and 1 is different from any other carpet factory, in as much as the whole of the work connected with the manufacture starts at the top of the building, where all raw materials such as wool, cotton, coal, etc., is taken, and the actual carpet begins to assume shape from that point, and on each floor a certain portion of the work is done until the ground floor is reached', where the finished product is baled and despatched to warehouses all over the Empire. "“Before finishing my remarks on the history of' carpets, I would like to mention what is looked upon as the finest example of carpet weaving ever to be accomplished in the East. I refer to the famous Ardebil Car--1 pets '(there were a pair of them) and they were 1 woven in 1535-1540’ for the Mosquel of Ardebil in Persia. ""One of these carpets was, prior to the war, in the South Kensington Museum. It is about 30 feet long by 18 feet wide. It is made up of silk warp and weft and a wool surface. It has 324 Persian knots or tufts to the square inch. Shades of Dark Blue "These particular carpets are in shades of dark blue covered with i

floral tracery, a centre medallion of pale yellow, with scroll decoration in reds and blues, and on the outer edge of the medallion there are 16 smaller ogee shaped meallions, and from the central ones at each end, are suspended—as it were —in the direction of the ends of the carpet, two sacred lamps like those used in the Mosque. At ofie end of the carpet is an oblong cartouche or panel in cream colour bearing an inscription, the translation of which is:—

“ ‘I have no refuge in the world other than thy threshold. My head has no protection other than this porchway. The work of the slave of the Holy Place Maksoud of Kas-

han in the year 942.’ “The corner pieces of the carpet are formed by quarter sections of the central medallion.

“When the first carpet was sent to England, it was in tatters, but the owner subsequently heard that there was a similar carpet still at Ardebil, managed to secure it, and repaired the first carpet with parts taken from the second, and the carpet was, at a later date, mended and provided with a new border, and eventually became part of the famous Yerkes collection.

“As you would naturally expect, China produces a very fine type of carpet, with a very thick pile, mostly hand-made, up to 100 tufts to the square inch, and the patterns appear to stand up above the level of the carpet. This effect is obtained by clipping away a certain amount of the pile immediately around the pattern. “Mongolian influence also shows in many carpets, in which panels are woven and in which are found proverbs and texts taken from the Koran. Usually Symbolical “There are also the carpets with which most people who have lived in the East are familiar. These are mainly the product of ancient Egypt and are usually symbolical—for instance, the patterns are woven in such a way that figures of birds, animals, etc., can be found amongst the foliage and tracery in the pattern itself. “You will find the winged orb of Ra, representing the Sun God, the asps typifying divinity, the sacred vulture symbolical of safety, and the handled : crpss emblematical of life or immortality.

“Then there is the dove emblem of peace, the lion denoting strength, or if the lion is attacking the fawn, it symbolises the strong overcoming the weak. The fruit and flowers in the trees signify plenty. “Many carpets were made in Persia in the early days on very primitive looms. In many cases they were made by the shepherds, who lived very nomadic lives, and who filled in their spare time weaving, obtaining the raw material from their- own flocks and using vegetable dyes for colouring. The manufacture was not confined to one individual and often a whole family would work on the same rug at different times.

“Now a few words on the construction of the modern carpet. First of all, we have the cleaning of the wool. It is dry cleaned by dusting, taken from the bales, the matted fibres are pulled apart and air suctions pulls out quantities of grease, dirt, burrs, etc. “After dusting, wools are repeatedly washed with soap and soda ash in hot water until no grease or dirt remains. The fleece during this process loses from one-third to twothirds in weight. Aftei* this, the wool must be blended and several types of wool, often many, are blended to produce the specified quality desired in the finished article. “Skilful blending is an art, blending formulas being carefully developed and guarded. “Quality depends vitally on the skill of the blender and blended wools are aged and mellowed for some time before being used. x “After blending, the wools pass repeatedly through carding machines—hundreds of tiny wires on rotating cylinders untangle and separate the fibres, finally delivering them in a thin blanket form. This blanket is divided into strips and rolled into round strands called rovings. These are wound on spools for spinning. “For worsted yarns, carded fibres pass through another combing process, which eliminates short fibres and places the long ones parallel. “Spinning machines of various types stretch and twist the rovings into yarns of the desired sizes. Carpet yarns usually consist of two or three strands twisted together—two ply or three ply.

“Most wools are dyed in the skeins, being hung on racks and lowered into vats of boiling water containing the dye. “About 12,000 different colours are obtained from various mixtures of the primary colours—red, yellow and blue, but expert knowledge and constant supervision is necessary.

Secondary Colours “Reverting just a moment to prim-

ary colours, of which I remarked there are three.

“There are also the secondary colours, so called. They may be formed by the mixing together of the primary colours—for instance, the mixing of red and yellow produces orange; yellow and blue produce green; blue and red produce violet. A great many gradations of each mixture aret possible, and each variation is called a hue. White added to any hue naturally lightens the tint of the hue and black darkens it.

“Then again we have tp consider the effects that colours produce. Red, for instance, is most intense and warm and imparts life and vigour to any decorative scheme.. Yellow is a colour of good cheer and the best reflector of light; blue is the coolest and most restful of all colours, and in carpets tends to make a room appear larger. Green is, of course, Nature’s own colour and a splendid foundation for any colour scheme. Violfet is seldom used in decoration, except where something of a very delicate nature is required, and orange must also be used very sparingly owing to its great strength, but can be used as a complementary to blue very effective! v.

“The principles of the carpet loom are essentially the same as those upon which were woven the earliest of floor coverings. “All carpet looms have a shuttle and reed. Velvet and Wilton looms have heddles and wires in addition.

“Wires, over which the surface wool or warp yarns are looped to form a pile and most types bear on one end. a razor-like blade, which, when the wires are withdrawn, cut open the loops. For uncut pile fabrics, such as Brussels or tapestry, the wires carry no knife. The wires run across the width of the carpet, and the number of wires to the inch determines the density of the pile—in other words, the more wires, the better the quality. Producing The Pattern “Heddles control the warp wool yarn that produce the pattern iby alternately raising and. lowering the coloured yarns which form the pile. As one set is raised, an opening or shed between the two is formed across the loom through which the shuttle passes.

“The shuttle carries back and forth across the loom the weft yarn which winds in the surface pile yarn, passing through the shed formed by the warp yarn as they are alterately raised and lowered by the action of the heddles. The shuttle carries a shot of weft yarn.

“The reed moves forward and back pressing each set of loops fast as formed against the already formed loops, making the fabric even and compact. “Now I could just mention one or two of the popular qualities of carpet. First of all there is the chenille, chenille being the French word for caterpillar, and the chenille used for carpet manufacture closely resembles this insect. The chenille itself in the trade is called fur, and is fairly expensive because of the slowness in weaving, requiring two sets of processes on two looms. The pile surface is woven on one loom and is later woven into the back on a second loom, on the first loom a loose blanket of woven yarns, coloured to correspond to the design. The lengthwise cotton yarns in this blanket are wirely spaced, each series twice as wide as the height of the pile required. When completed this blanket is cut into strips between the lengthwise yarns, making long strips of fur, the loose ends being held together with , cotton yarns. The fur ends are steamed and pressed together to form a V which looks like a caterpillar—the strips of chenille or fur form the weft or pile. For the final weaving on the 1 second looms, these strips are carried across the loom by a travelling finger or ring and can be woven up to 30 feet wide without a seam. Chenille Carpets “A lot of people think that a chenille carpet is a very poor one, but although a loom has been invented to produce a very low quality, the original chenille still holds pride of place for service and is a great favourite both in the United. Kingdom and America for hotel and theatre use where the importance of a hard wearing carpet is recognised.

The rich colour harmonies of each Wilton carpet are produced as are the harmonies of a player piano. Most complicated of all weaves, the Wilton named from the English town in which it was first made, is produced by what is called a Jacquard process. Its intricate operation is directed by a series of pattern cards punched with holes like the piano player rolls. More than 11,00'0 such cards, each about 19in. x 3in., may be required for a single carpet, each card controlling a row of pile tufts. The thousands of holes punched by skilled

operators correspond to the checks and colours on the design paper. “Laced together on an endless belt at the top of the lodm the cards pass one by one over- the Jacquard' mechanism directing the operation of the needles which deftly select the strands of yarn of the right colour for the surface pile. All other yarns are left buried beneath the surface, giving to Wilton the name of the hidden value weave. Loops of pile- are formed over wires, the knives on the end of which cut the pile as they are withdrawn.

“Yarns of wool or worsted so accurately selected by this more accurate than human machine, are carried on spools placed in trays or frames at the back of the loom, one frame to each colour. In a fine 12ft. x 9ft. Wilton carpet, as many as 6144 bobbins or spools are required. The greatest number of frames is limited to six, but a clever weaver by planting can use as many as 26 different colours in one carpet. If it was not for the weaver’s skill, it would'' not be possible to reproduce many of the beautifully coloured priceless oriental carpets.

Characteristic of Wilton fabrics is the burying of the pile yarns not used on the surface in a six-frame construction—for example, only one of the six strands of yarn appears on the surface, the other five lying beneath.

“Axminster carpet which also takes its name from the English town, is undoubtedly the most popular and most versatile of any of the makes, and the yardage used is greater than any other, and can be made in an unlimited number of colours, the best grades bearing a very close resemblance to the hand-knotted carpet structure. Setting The Yarns “Take a 12ft. x 9ft. Axminster square—this can be woven in a few hours, but it requires weeks to set the yarns for the design. “Two skilled operators may work eight weeks in setting the yarns for one pattern and the time increases as the number of colours increase.

“Each colour of yarn is wound on small bobbins placed by operators on revolving spindles in exactly the right place on a long table called for by the design in view, on a roller overhead. Strands of yarn from each bobbin are brought to the end of the table, threaded through a reed, then wound on long metal cylinders or spools in such a position that an end of the yarn of the correct colour will appear in exactly the right spot to form one tuft in a complete row of tufts across the entire width of the fabric, seven

ends of yarn for each inch, or 756 across the average '9ft. carpet may be used. Enough yarn is wound on each cylinder for tufts for one similar row in each of 200 carpet squares, I one square requiring about 1600 spools. These spools are placed in proper order in an endless chain in the great loom, looped like a series of Venetian blinds, extending many times from floor to ceiling. As the loom operates, each spool is presented at exactly the right place at the right time to deliver its row of yarn ends to form its row of tufts. Now Made In N.Z. “The yarn is threaded through the cotton warp, fastened in by “shots” of cotton and jute weft, the ends then cut off. The spool passes on to bereplaced by another and/ another’ as the process is repeated. The finished fabric is rolled on a beam behind the weaver.

“Since import restrictions were introduced, the shortage of carpets in New Zealand 'has become more and

more acute, and the war causing a complete stoppage in manufacture in England, it became necessary to try to establish the industry here, and although we have not yet got the population to warrant the manufacure of some of the more intricate designs, a certain amount of progress

has been made and plain and stippled carpets of excellent quality are now being manufactured in New Zealand.”